14 September 1607
Plantation of Ulster

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Hugh O'Neill and Rory O'Donnell, the Catholic earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, are unfairly suspected of planning a rising against the English king, James I, and flee from Ulster, eventually finding sanctuary in Rome. James I becomes convinced that the only way to solve the 'Irish problem' is to replace the island's Catholic Gaelic culture with a Protestant one. So, taking the earls' flight as a confession of treason, James grabs six of the nine Ulster counties, which are then 'planted', or settled, by Scottish and English colonists. Under the scheme, land in Derry was reserved for the City of London livery companies (hence the city's new name 'Londonderry').

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